CATCH UP

November 12, 2012

Well this week was pretty interesting. We have a few new investigators. Unfortunately, no investigators went to Church on Sunday. The good thing is that they have a pretty decent percentage of active to baptized members here in São Pedro. Unfortunately, these last few years few of the new baptisms have stayed active.

We have our meetings in what used to be the police station which is on the top floor of a bunch of shops - including an ice cream shop. It´s actually pretty nice inside and the only funny thing is the baptismal font which is like a tarp-ish tub stretched out on pvc-pipe. It´s got a machine that heats the water up though. 

The works not going anyway fast. The numbers of new investigators and everything for the missionaries in São Pedro were never very high but we´re trying to increase our numbers and success a bit more every week. It´s been so hot out! Today it´s actually tolerable.

Our meeting house is real close to a big catholic church and the funny thing is that there´s a Saint on top but they put the wrong saint on top. There´s supposed to be some famous saint on top of the Church and some Saint of harvest in the middle of some field in the middle of nowhere. They switched them. So there´s some random farming saint on top of the Catholic Church in the town square. 

we live in a real nice apartment which is on the top floor of like a ...well it´s certainly not a mall but it´s a place with a few stores on the bottom floor. There´s a gate to our floor so instead of just locking our apartment door we can lock the gate. MY companion and I woke up at one in the morning on Sunday because somebody who I´m assuming just had to be drunk broke the gate. We thought somebody else would handle it so we didn´t go out to see what it was. We just heard the noise and the next day saw that someone had pried the door open. I think he lost his key and didn´t feel like calling someone to unlock the door so he just managed to bend the steel bars somehow...(I think we have a super human living on our floor).

It´s extremely hot out and of course the members - and all people here - eat egg salad (Super heavy) during every meal. I don´t like mayonnaise! Of course it´s the first thing the members tell me to eat. I´m not trying to complain about food or hospitality of the members or anything. Just this one thing I ... well I´m learning patience. 

Love you all.

Elder Hanson

November 5, 2012
I´m in a small town not too far from Santa Maria. It´s a part of the Santa Maria stake. It´s a tiny branch (around thirty attend) but it´s got some nice people in it. My companion has been out for a year and 3 months . I´m senior companion. This week has been pretty good. The reference we got from the LZ is working out. They seem to be really receptive people and this week we´re going to challenge them to be baptized. The father in the family has two sisters who are members of the branch so they can help. We painted a house this week for a nice old lady who will be moving in to the branch. Unfortunately, there´s no member families moving in the area. The good thing is that I get to find some families to bring to the branch.

We´ve set some goals for this month and we´re going to work real hard. The mission president says that we have to imagine that we´re the first missionaries who ever passed through the area. We had a great zone conference last week and I learned a lot. I also ate a lot of ice cream. It´s just not the same as American Ice cream (It´s too...icy or fake or something). I tried making a float with Sprite and it just made me home sick for a root beer float. I also ate pizza this last week. While it´s not the same thing it´s really pretty good. =)

Mom, as for the nap, it was on a P-day.  The lady who cleans our apartment is a nice old lady in the branch who has nothing to do so she likes to clean the apartment. I always keep it tidy anyways. The funny thing is that she gets disappointed if there´s not at least something for her to do there. That´s why I´ve been doing the dishes and everything but I´ve also been leaving some books on the table in a (exaggerated) disorderly fashion. She doesn´t Iron our clothes so I´ve still got some responsibility. You said the pictures seemed old. Not really, they are from the beginning to the end of my time in Quaraí. I´ll make sure to take lots of pictures here in São Pedro do Sul.

Love you all

October 29, 2012

So a couple of weeks ago when I said that my companion was going to be transferred by emergency...that didn´t end up happening. Basically someone in another area was supposed to switch with him for one reason or another (I think the Elder in the other area wasn´t getting along with his companion) but it didn´t end up happening. So I finished my time in Quarai with the same companion - Elder Williom. I had six months in Quaraí and now I was transferred from there to São Pedro do Sul. I had to leave my investigators for my other area. That´s okay though because the work was going along real slowly and now someone else will breathe some life in to the area.  
My companion in the new area is Elder Soares. He´s not the companion that I would have had if the emergency transfer had happened. He´s a good, humble guy. The apartment is clean...oh and we have a nice lady in the ward who cleans our apartment for us. When I arrived here last night my companion was telling me that we don´t have that many people that we´re teaching and the people are not really coming through with commitments. The good thing is that last night I got a call from my Zone leader and he had a reference for our area that should work out. I also made a contact with a nice lady at the grocery store today. We´ll see how it all works out. 
This is the first time I´ve been in an area that doesn´t have a chapel. We have a small branch and apparently we meet on the second floor of what used to be a police dept. This is going to be fun!